[K-Women Talk] Sajudang Yi, the Female Confucian Scholar Born in 1793

Continuing Scholarship Amid Hardship
Published "Taegyo Singi," a Guide to Prenatal Education

Female painters and female poets. These are among the few figures one can encounter when tracing the history of women. But what about the term female Confucian scholar? Women's interests were certainly not limited to the arts. Therefore, it is truly fortunate that records remain of Sajudang (師朱堂) Yi, a female Confucian scholar.

Sajudang Yi was born in 1793 in Cheongju during the late Joseon period as the youngest of seven siblings. Being the youngest in a large family might suggest she was loved and grew up carefree, but Sajudang Yi was quite different. Sajudang was a name she gave herself, meaning she took Zhu Xi as her teacher. Unlike other women who chose female historical figures as role models, Sajudang selected Zhu Xi, the greatest master of Neo-Confucianism, indicating her exceptional ambition.

However, Sajudang Yi faced many obstacles. The first was her gender. Because of this, instead of studying like her brothers, she had to learn women's work such as sewing and weaving. Fortunately, her father, Yi Chang-sik (李昌植), granted her wish to study, and by around age 15, Sajudang had acquired more outstanding scholarship than any of her male relatives.

The next obstacle was marriage. In the past, one was not considered an adult unless married. But due to her family's poverty and her father's three-year mourning period, Sajudang married Yu Han-gyu (柳漢奎), who was 20 years her senior, at the relatively late age of 25 by the standards of the time. This was Yu Han-gyu's fourth marriage. Although remarriage was common in Joseon due to high female mortality during childbirth, marriages beyond the third were generally avoided, so this was not an ideal match.

However, the real hardship came after the death of her husband, when Sajudang faced financial difficulties. With four young children, she endured severe poverty, farming and weaving to make ends meet. For someone who dreamed of being a Confucian scholar, this must have been a painful reality. Yet she overcame it through diligence and competence, specifically through interest-bearing loans (利殖). Lending money to neighbors and collecting interest was sometimes socially criticized but was a major source of income for noblewomen.

Thus, Sajudang Yi's life might have appeared peaceful to others. She married, increased her wealth, and raised her children well. But her passion for scholarship remained an unextinguished flame in her heart.

Despite her harsh life, Sajudang never put down her books and eventually wrote Taegyo Singi (태교신기). As the title suggests, it is a book describing methods of prenatal education, compiling all the teachings related to prenatal education from the classics, Confucian texts, and medical books she had studied, along with her own experiences and knowledge from carrying and giving birth to children. The saying "No education surpasses prenatal education!" seems to carry a pride that only women can claim.

At the age of 83, upon her death, Sajudang Yi ordered all her writings except Taegyo Singi to be burned. Why? Perhaps she thought her ideas would not be accepted in the old-fashioned Joseon society. If she had known that centuries later women would receive education, have careers, and raise their voices, would she have left her writings behind? Or would she have said, "It is still not enough"?

Writer: Lee Han